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Michel Temer, Brazil’s Deeply

Unpopular President, Signals Run for a
New Term
“I’m proud of what I’ve done,” said President Michel Temer of Brazil. “I’ve fixed
a country that was broken.”CreditMauro Pimentel/Agence France-Presse —
Getty Images

 Image

“I’m proud of what I’ve done,” said President Michel Temer of Brazil. “I’ve fixed
a country that was broken.”CreditCreditMauro Pimentel/Agence France-Presse
— Getty Images
By Manuela Andreoni
• March 24, 2018
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Michel Temer, the deeply unpopular president of Brazil,

signaled that he intends to seek a full term in October’s election, telling a
newsmagazine in an interview published this weekend that “it would be
cowardly not to be a candidate.”

Mr. Temer took office in mid-2016 after helping lead the impeachment of
President Dilma Rousseff, for whom he served as vice president. But Mr. Temer,
77, a veteran politician of the center-right, has had a tumultuous presidency,
spending much of the past year fending off criminal charges of corruption and
obstruction of justice.

Winning a new term would allow Mr. Temer to maintain the special legal
standing afforded to senior government officials, which has so far shielded him
from trial. On two occasions last year, Congress voted to protect him from
facing charges before the Supreme Court.
Mr. Temer had said as recently as last month that he did not intend to run. But
in this weekend’s interview with the newsmagazine Istoé, Mr. Temer said that
he came to believe that he needed to defend his legacy.
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“I’ve fixed a country that was broken,” said Mr. Temer, who leads the Brazilian
Democratic Movement party. “I’m proud of what I’ve done and I need to show
what’s being done. If I’m not in the fray, what’s going to happen is that all the
candidates will go after me.”

In the interview, Mr. Temer argued that he hadn’t been given credit for the
country’s advancements since he took office in August 2016. The economy grew
1 percent last year, after shrinking almost 8 percent between 2015 and 2016.

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But Mr. Temer’s agenda, which has included an overhaul of labor laws that has
weakened unions, has led critics to charge that he has usurped the will of voters
who elected Ms. Rousseff, a leftist.

And the horse trading that spared him from prosecution last year also turned
him into a vilified figured. Brasília, the capital, is plastered with graffiti that says
“Fora Temer,” or “Out With Temer.” A prominent samba school depicted him as
a vampire in Rio de Janeiro’s carnival last month.

In polls, Mr. Temer’s approval ratings have been mired in the single digits for
many months.

Mr. Temer’s remarks are the latest development in a volatile race. The front-
runner, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, appears likely to go to
jail before he can formally register his candidacy, as a result of a corruption
conviction handed down last year.
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Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right lawmaker regarded as a fringe politician until

recently, is running second in the polls.

Prominent allies of Mr. Temer are also considering candidacies. They include
Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles and House Speaker Rodrigo Maia, a key
supporter of the president in Congress. Mr. Temer’s bid may complicate efforts
of centrist parties to coalesce around a candidate.

Fábio Wanderley Reis, a political scientist at the Federal University of Minas

Gerais, said the president had little to lose by running. “I think this is an
attempt to crawl out of the hole,” he said. “He is calculating that there is no
danger that things can get any worse for him.”

Allies of Mr. Temer had previously suggested that he would seek a high-ranking
government position like an ambassadorship after leaving the presidency, as a
way to retain his legal protection.

Alberto Carlos Almeida, a political scientist who runs a polling organization,

said that Mr. Temer may yet backtrack on his intention to run. The deadline to
register a candidacy is August.
 “I think he is doing this to discourage candidacies from inside the government,
or close to the government,” Mr. Almeida said. “It’s better to keep people close
to the government than acting critically towards the government.”

Mr. Temer’s remarks came about a month after he made a sudden decision
to put the military in charge of security in Rio de Janeiro State, a step that critics
called a political gimmick. While Rio de Janeiro has faced months of escalating
violence, other states face worse conditions.

There is little sign that the military intervention has helped. Marielle Franco, a
popular city councilwoman who was critical of Mr. Temer and the federal
intervention, was murdered this month. On Saturday, at least eight people died
in a confrontation with the police in the Rocinha district of Rio de Janeiro.
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A version of this article appears in print on March 25, 2018, on Page A12 of the
New York edition with the headline: Brazil’s Chief Hints at Bid, Despite Polls. Order
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